VIJAYAWADA: Aiming at a total sweep of the next elections, Chief Minister Jagan Reddy took a crucial decision – tickets will be denied to “heirs” of leaders in the YSR Congress. Seniors with their long services would be given party tickets for the 2024 ‘Mission 175’.
Several senior leaders were planning to field their family members in the coming elections and they took up the proposals with the high command. The chief minister bluntly turned down the pleas by affirming that he cannot afford to take any chances for Election 2024.
Both assembly and Lok Sabha polls would take place in mid-2024 and stakes are high for the YSRC in AP.
The Jagan government started the Gadapa Gadapaku Mana Prabhutvam mass contact programme in which all MLAs were participating. Their performances in this mass contact programme was to be yardstick for the reissue of the party tickets for the next polls.
In the beginning, nearly 60 MLAs lagged behind the CM’s expectations in the mass contact programme. Later, their number fell to 45 and recently to 27 legislators.
The ruling party MLAs were sweating a lot to get good grades and they pressed their family members and relatives into action to make a special mark.
Several senior leaders thought of the mass contact programme as a good opportunity to introduce their sons, daughters and relatives into politics and their eventual upgradation as candidates for the next elections.
According to sources, assembly speaker Thammineni Sitaram pressed his son Venkatnag into active politics while deputy speaker Kolagatla Veerabhadra sought a chance for his daughter Sravani.
MLA and former minister Perni Venkataramaiah wanted to promote his son Krishnamurthy. Minister Botsa Satyanarayana brought forward his son Dr Sandeep while former minister and a relative of Jagan, Balineni Srinivas wanted to ensure a position for his son Praneeth Reddy.
Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu wanted to promote his son Raghava Reddy while a dozen legislators wanted to do the same for their children or close relatives.
CM Jagan is keen on winning all the 175 assembly seats in the 2024 polls. He made it clear that he would go by the winning chances of each individual in the grant of the party ticket for 2024. This spoiled the hopes of the senior leaders.
Political analysts say senior leaders have vast connections with all sections of the society, groups, various sectors and officials and can make a better mark compared to the children of MLAs.
The people’s anguish against ruling party MLAs was palpable during the launch of the Gadapa Gadapaku programme but later things changed for the better after the party resolved several public’s issues through the mass contact programme.
Former minister Perni Nani said Jagan instructed senior legislators to contest the 2024 elections and to work hard by making good use of the Gadapa Gadapaku programme.
